2022 Jazz 75th Anniversary Reunion Program

Under Slater’s leadership, the One O’Clock Lab Band added two
more Grammy nominations, including “Got a Match?” from Lab ‘89
and one for his composition “Values” from Lab ‘91; toured Australia,
Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, Thailand, and all the
major European festivals; and recorded live in Montreaux, Australia
and at Blues Alley. Starting in 1995, the Glenn E. Gomez International
Artists Endowment for Jazz Studies has brought distinguished
musicians to meet with students and perform with the One O’Clock
Lab Band and other student ensembles.
Slater’s era also saw the beginnings of the diversification of
the program’s faculty and curriculum. When Stefan Karlsson
succeeded Dan Haerle as professor of jazz piano and small group
coordinator, he became the first full-time Jazz Studies faculty
member from outside the United States (Sweden). When classical
and jazz trombonist Tony Baker joined the faculty of the Division
of Instrumental Studies and began teaching lessons to jazz
trombonists, he became the first Black full-time professor to teach
in Jazz Studies. Rosana Eckert joined the faculty in 1999 as not
only the first recipient of an MM in vocal jazz from UNT but also the
first woman and Hispanic faculty member to teach in the division.
In 2003, José Aponte, another alumnus who had been involved in
leading early Latin jazz projects as a graduate student in the 1990s,
returned to UNT as director of the Latin Jazz Ensemble. Designated
a Lab Band in 2010, they have recorded five albums, including
their most recent project, 5th Harvest, released as part of the 75th
anniversary of the program. They have performed at numerous
festivals; worked with guest artists Michael Spiro, Ignacio Berroa,
Luis Conte, Manuel Valera, Duduka da Fonseca, and Danílo Pérez;
and received multiple DownBeat awards.
TRANSITIONS AND
TRADITIONS
The 2008 retirements of Neil Slater and Jim Riggs, followed by
that of Paris Rutherford the next year, began a period of renewal
during which the program adapted to a changing music profession
and jazz education market while holding fast to fundamental
values of tradition, student creativity, and professionalism.
Because the university had begun to require more administrative
work by chairs, Dean James Scott separated the roles of division
chair and director of the One O’Clock Lab Band, which until then
had been filled by the same person. John Murphy was named to
the chair position to advise graduate students while continuing to
teach history, analysis, and research. Trombonist, composer, and
alumnus Steve Wiest, recently hired in a new jazz composition line,
became director of the One O’Clock Lab Band.
Wiest’s high-energy, jazz-rock influenced compositions continued
the band’s tradition of pushing the envelope and resulted in two
Grammy nominations for Lab 2009, one for best large ensemble
jazz album and the other for best instrumental composition for his
“Ice-9.” The band continued to perform extensively across the United
States, including headlining such festivals and jazz venues as the Jazz
Education Network Conference, Texas Music Educators Association
events, Monterey Jazz Festival, Catalina’s, and Birdland where they
released a three-piece live video. They also toured internationally,
returning to both Thailand and the United Kingdom. Wiest collaborated
with donor and alumnus Bill Collins III, an anonymous donor, and the
UNT Music Library to bring the library of Maynard Ferguson, Wiest’s
former employer, to UNT in 2008. He also founded the U-Tubes jazz
trombone ensemble, which has won national recognition.
Steve Wiest
and Phil Bulla
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